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Tacoma Public Library accounts and connected eResources may be unavailable from Sunday, June 7 at 9 p.m. through Tuesday, June 9 as we perform system updates. Content on OverDrive/Libby and Hoopla will still be available on those apps. Thank you for your patience.

On March 1, 1939 Diores Moore rose early, donned his Sunday clothes, started a fire in the wood-burning range, put on his wife's apron, and started cooking. He wanted to surprise his wife by making a special dinner for his 94th birthday. He did not want his wife to go to any extra effort. Eleven…

The Maefair Apartment fire is the deadliest in Tacoma's history. Before dawn on February 17, 1945 fire broke out in the Hamilton Candy Company at 721 Fawcett Avenue. The fire quickly spread upstairs to the Maefair. By the time the first alarm was received at 2:12 a.m. the building was already engulfed in flames. Twenty…

Exercise can be fun as this smiling model demonstrates on the BC Health Walker on March 10, 1967. The treadmill was just one of the up-to-date exercise machines at the new Olympic Health Spa, 5206 South Tacoma Way. Other amenities offered to membership holders in a February 24, 1967, advertisement included a hot mineral swirl pool…

A bird’s eye of the sand and gravel operations belonging to the Pioneer Sand & Gravel Co. north of Chambers Creek near Steilacoom. This February 11, 1963, photograph shows the enormous gravel pit surrounded by acres of trees. The sand and gravel could be easily transported both by water with barges and by rail. See…

Ca.1890. John Newington Conna, wealthy real estate agent and head of the first black family in Tacoma. Born in San Augustine, Texas in 1836, Mr. Conna fought in the Civil War as part of the famed 1st Louisiana Native Guards before migrating north to Connecticut and then west to Kansas. In 1883 Mr. Conna journeyed…

January and February of 1929 brought severe winter weather to Tacoma with heavy snow and temperatures that dropped into the teens. Snow and slush piled up in the gutters of downtown Tacoma. This early February street scene shows Saint Helens Avenue looking north from S 7th. See more featured images and posts…

The University of Hawaii's unbeaten basketball team visited Tacoma twice during February, 1948. They came to Tacoma as they began their five-game tour of the Pacific Northwest on February 19th. They left Tacoma that day and returned February 25th to play the Pacific Lutheran College's Lutes. The Lutes defeated the Hawaiians 65 - 54. The…

When this photo was taken in January 1953, Tacoma Public Library's new Main Library at 1102 Tacoma Ave South had been open for just over one year. Shown here is the check-out desk, where a man in a topcoat waits for his library book to be checked out to him by a library employee. Across…

In January 1937, polio victim Shirley Ford, Mayor George Smitley, and Model Bakery owner Gus C. Westerdale posed with a special cake created for the President Roosevelt Birthday Ball to benefit Infantile Paralysis (Polio) research. The cake was topped with a bust of FDR and would be put on display in the bakery's window. Young…

Army personnel could choose from cold and hot snacks at the built-in vending machines at Fort Lewis in January of 1969. Milk, sodas and ice cream were located near the right wall, and soups and dry snacks were on the left. Bright red chairs coupled with turquoise tables provided space to dine and gather…